TAMPA, Fla. — While you wouldn’t know it based on appearances, there seems to be a little caution being shown by coach Craig Berube when it comes to his two goaltenders.

At a time when the Flyers would likely want go-to goalie Steve Mason to sharpen up for the playoffs, Berube hinted Wednesday that Ray Emery might be his starter in net Thursday night against the Lightning. And if not then, Emery would likely see one of the last two games this weekend.

Asked about Mason’s pending schedule for the last week of the season, Berube said, “I don’t think he needs to play in all of (the games).

“There’s other things that come into play, I think, at this time of year,” Berube said. “It’s more than career numbers.”

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He seemed to primarily be talking about playoff experience. Mason has just one year of it at the NHL level, four losing games in net as a rookie in the spring of 2009 for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Meanwhile, Emery is wearing a 2013 Stanley Cup ring, though he served only as Corey Crawford’s backup last postseason with the Chicago Blackhawks. Yet Emery also has 36 playoff games on his NHL resume, 31 of them as the starter for a talented Ottawa Senators team in back-to-back seasons of 2005-06 and 2006-07.

“Yeah, experience,” Berube said. “But it’s different things. ... Throughout the year we look at (a goalie’s) career numbers when we jump ahead and look at the schedule. But right now I’m not so much looking at career numbers.”

Emery (8-11-2, 2.87 goals-against average, .906 saves percentage) has looked more solid and sharp in his few appearances down the stretch, so it’s at least conceivable Flyers fans would see him doing more than just opening the bench gate in the upcoming playoffs.

Or perhaps Berube is just thinking he can use Emery in at least one of the three remaining regular season games to get Mason (33-18-7, 2.51 GAA, .917 SP) an extra measure of rest.

Berube really didn’t offer much more about his thinking with the goalies. Mason seems to not want to think about anything other than what’s best for everyone.

“Ray’s been playing really well,” Mason said. “But whatever gives us the best chance to win, I’ll be ready and be supportive of it.”

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Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen doesn’t seem to need a rest before the playoffs. He’s just preaching the need to keep the foot on the accelerator, despite his celebrating a certain birthday March 18.

“Once you’re 39 you feel old sometimes,” Timonen said. “That’s the truth. ... It’s been a long year, with the Olympics and everything, but it’s gone fast. Now we’re in the playoffs, which was my goal. But now is not the time to relax.”

Timonen hasn’t been this healthy this late in a season in quite some time, either. He doesn’t seem particularly hampered by any of the back problems he’s had in recent seasons. And as for rest, he says that’s not a priority as he prepared to play Thursday night against the Lightning.

“We’ll see what happens (Thursday) and move forward to the weekend and see what happens,” he said. “If there’s a chance to take a game off (then), we’ll see if that’s the case.”

As for his health, Timonen added, “It’s one of those things I don’t want to talk about. It’s usually a bad karma.”